Robinson knew this was his last chance

New Orleans – Dave Robinson figured if he didn't make it into the Hall of Fame this year, his chances of ever getting there were over.

When he heard his name called Saturday, he blew a long sigh of relief.

“I wasn’t surprised as much as I was just relieved,” Robinson said in a ballroom at the New Orleans Convention Center, where the class of 2013 was announced. “If I didn’t make it this time, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

“You can’t get back on as a senior candidate. I’m 71 years old. I would never be back. This would be my one last shot.”

On Saturday, enough of the 46 members of the Hall of Fame selection committee agreed and voted him in. Robinson was nominated by the seniors committee, which picks out players who might have been overlooked during the process and gives them another chance.

Robinson's son, Dave Jr., who accompanied him to the festivities said his father rarely talked about getting into the Hall of Fame because he thought he had made his case on the field.

He didn't have anything else to say about it.

“We never really discussed it,” said Dave Jr. “He’s very superstitious. He’s never been to the finals before, but he hasn’t talked about it for 40 years. He made his case. What else could he have done?

“It’s up to the voters. We knew after his last day he was a Hall of Famer.”

On Saturday, enough of the 46 members of the Hall of Fame selection committee agreed and voted him in. Robinson was nominated by the seniors committee, which picks out players who might have been overlooked during the process and gives them another chance.

He is the 22nd Packer to enter the Hall of Fame and the 11th from the Vince Lombardi era.

Several of his teammates felt that their own election to the Hall of Fame wasn't complete without Robinson there.

“I have never really felt the full satisfaction for me being in the Hall of Fame without Dave being in there, and I would have felt the same way if Willie Davis wasn’t in there," cornerback Herb Adderley said in comments released by the Packers. "With Dave making it, it solidifies my feelings about the three of us and how we played together, shutting down the run and the pass.

"Whenever I talk to Willie or Dave, it always comes up, how we shut down the left side of the field. It gives me tremendous satisfaction because Dave is a very dear friend of mine.”

Robinson said he as left outside linebacker he regularly had to take on guys like tight end Mike Ditka at the line of scrimmage and cover running back Gale Sayers out of the backfield. He did such a good job that he was named to the all-decade team of the 1960s.

About Tom Silverstein

Tom Silverstein has covered the Green Bay Packers since 1989. He is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year award winner.